


Last of the Midnight Trains

by SkycladFox



Category: Furry (Fandom), Original Work
Genre: Amusement Park, Anthropomorphic, F/F, Horror, Mystery, Spooky, Supernatural - Freeform, Underground Railway, ghost story, train
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:40:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27229720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkycladFox/pseuds/SkycladFox
Summary: Just before midnight, Bella waits for her train home, only for the wrong one to come calling.  It carries her on a haunting journey to an abandoned place, and what waits for her there may just be beyond her...
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Female Character





	Last of the Midnight Trains

**Author's Note:**

> After many years, many ideas coming to nothing, and a multi-chapter story that went nowhere, I've finally finished a spooky story. At least, I hope it's spooky. For all I know it might be a garbled, laughable, entirely-not-scary mess. At least I had fun writing it.
> 
> Expect no gore or even overt violence; this is about mood and atmosphere. Also expect no easy answers; there's plenty of information, but it's up to you to piece it together, and some things must forever remain a mystery...

The station felt different that night. Something in the atmosphere had shifted, but in no way she could begin to quantify, and it left her a little disconcerted as she rode the escalator down. There were no tangible changes beyond a brace of new advertising posters and the number of erratically flickering strip lights rising to eight, little things that couldn't begin to explain her disquiet.

On the platform, more posters had been swapped out, and one of the arrivals monitors had a fresh spiderweb crack in it, and one of the long metal benches looked to have been moved slightly, but again all were minor details. She brushed crumbs from the end of the bench, settled down, and took some slow breaths, but the disquiet didn't ease.

Bella could see herself reflected in a window of a three-carriage train standing at the other platform, a compact lizard-girl with a figure that blended modest curves with a little plumpness at the mid-point, cream and burgundy scales, a relatively short tail, a thin curl of a scar across a narrow snout, a sleeveless white halter top, and a plain bag slung from her left shoulder. She didn't like the way her eyes shifted.

They flicked to the damaged arrivals monitor close by, to see her train was, as expected, running late, but six minutes more so than usual; she frowned, anxiety deepening just a sliver. Trying to ignore it, the lizard watched the other platform's train pull away, steadily gathering speed as it slid into the darkness of the tunnel.

As there was no-one on the other platform this left her entirely alone in the station, and once the rumble, clatter and low whine of the train had faded, the only sounds were the whirr of the escalators, the steady clicks of the clocks, and her own shallow breathing. Twice she thought she heard movement up in the concourse, but no-one appeared.

Every time Bella glanced at the arrivals monitor her train's delay had lengthened, and when it reached fifteen minutes she started to worry it would be cancelled. She also wondered what could be causing such a delay so late at night, and the reason that came most readily to mind wasn't one she cared to dwell on.

The sound of a train approaching was a welcome distraction. Welling slowly, it peaked precisely at twelve, as it always did, a careworn single carriage emerging from the tunnel, no destination displayed, no lights on inside, not in service. Whatever had held up her train clearly hadn't affected the midnight through one, but then nothing ever did.

Also as usual, it slowed further as it passed along the platform, to her more fanciful side almost seeming to be taking everything in. When it continued to decelerate, though, her disquiet magnified in parallel, to the point her tail began to twitch. When it stopped with its foremost doors right in front of her, and they slid silently open, and a soft orange light clicked on inside, it spiked dramatically.

Bella could see no-one in the carriage, and hear nothing bar the idling engine and a faint murmuring that sounded like words but never quite coalesced into something understandable. She lurched to her feet, her bag clutched tight, caught between two pulls, one away from the eerie train, and one, inexplicably, toward it.

Her stomach lurched, and a tremble set in, as a word started etching itself onto the grimy glass of the window to the left of the doors, in the cheerfully loose scrawl of a child.

> **MAMA**

Bella's heart clenched, her eyes stung, and she stumbled back, falling hard onto the bench. As she shuddered, hugging herself, a small pool of pale orange light drifted from the coach and over the glossy tiles of the platform to her feet, then fluidly shifted and sharpened to another, neatly written word.

> **SILK**

The lizard choked a sob, clutching her head. Images flashed through her mind, of smiles, and warmth, and laughter, and nuzzles and kisses and plush, fiery fur and soft skin the colour of coffee and a sudden and unbearable emptiness, a void where joy had once lived. Then, both of the words changed together, to the same, simple, wrenching one.

> **COME**

Bella wanted to flee, to run for the escalators and up and out, but she couldn't look away from the coach, couldn't look away from the open doors, couldn't look away from the tormenting possibility of being with them again. Finally, against all instinct, and all her better judgement, she stood; the light melted back to a pool, and she followed it onto the train, the writing on the window fading as the doors closed behind her.

While the exterior was old, weathered by many hard years of use, the interior was clean and fresh and modern, suggesting an older train that had recently been refurbished. Lines of neat red-patterned seats faced each other across a fairly broad central aisle with vertical poles evenly spaced along the middle.

The lizard-girl sat where the guiding light indicated before it too faded away, under the pale orange glow of the sole working roof lights. Her heart pulsing hard in her chest, she stared through the windows as the carriage began to move again, drawing out of the station. A glimpse of an arrivals monitor just before they were swallowed by the darkness of the tunnel showed her original train running just two minutes late.

With only the murmurs and her memories for company she watched the faintest hints of walls flickering past for some little while, hands in her lap, wringing together. A station slid by, the name unfamiliar, just a single person to be seen, and they gave no attention to the coach and its sole, lonely, anxious occupant.

The murmuring shifted subtly, and slowly, dimly, Bella became aware of shapes, misty, luminous wisps loosely in the forms of people, fading into being around her. The last to appear were a pair directly opposite her, and the sight of them had her hands going to her muzzle as a sob convulsed through her.

One was a female red panda in an open, pastel blue waistcoat, very nearly as compact as her, but with a shapelier figure, rounded and soft and inviting; their luxurious tail was curled around their legs, and their arms around the other person, sitting in their lap. A human girl of six with beautiful warm coffee-coloured skin, they wore a black skirt that reached halfway down their thighs, their loose, dark hair fell to their chest, and a bracelet of silvery little charms encircled their right wrist.

The panda stroked the child's belly and nuzzled their scalp to counter a visible anxiety, while the little girl's attention flittered all around the train, though most often focused on the panda, a smile curling her lips every time. Above them a poster was now visible, the only one on the train, an advert for an amusement park, dominated by a silver-furred cartoon rat grinning excitedly over a gleaming arched bridge.

Bella couldn't help reaching out a paw, wanting to touch them, to feel them, but it passed through them, rippling their image, a reflection on water. All she could do was sit, and watch, and yearn, as the coach ran on. Another station, this one dark and empty and silent, passed them by, a faint, fleeting glimpse, then the murmurs began to change.

They grew steadily louder, more restless, and agitation spread among the echoes of people. The child's anxiety deepened fast, and the paws of the panda tightened on them, protectively, their face casting warily around. Bella's did, too, but she saw nothing to explain the shift, not a hint of what was unsettling the ghostly passengers so.

Then the train lurched, jouncing and leaning round a corner, clattering roughly over some points, and the disquiet magnified into alarm. The murmurs filled the carriage, resounding through it, sharply fearful, but still indecipherable, and many of the figures started to cast about, and one, a lanky mongoose, stood and headed for the front of the train.

They hit and rattled the door to the cab, but it didn't budge, and there was no response from beyond it. As the panda cocooned the child in her arms and tail, her head resting atop theirs, eyes closed, a tremble running through her, the noise and the panic and the anger reached a crescendo, deafening and terrifying.

Then the train rapidly slowed to a halt at a station, the engine dying, and everything was washed away, dust in a rushing wind, leaving the lizard sitting, shaken, alone in a silence so deep it was suffocating. She numbly took in a run-down, sparsely-lit variation on the platform she'd left, the faded and dusty signs reading “Silver Bridge”.

The doors slid open, and Bella saw something small glimmering at the edge of the platform. It took effort, but she stood, and moved forward to look. She found a silver charm in the form of a lizard, and her heart found a way to clench harder. She held it to her chest, her eyes closed, tears trickling from their corners. Opening them, she found two words on the station wall in front of her, one in the child's scrawl, the other in the orange light.

> **SAVE US**

The doors closed behind her. The carriage fell dark. She took several long, slow breaths, paws fisting. Then, tucking the charm into her bag, she moved along the platform. Beckoning cartoon rats were drawn in the wall tiles either side of the arch to the escalators, and curving over the top of it in big, bright letters was the sentence “Up to Silver Bridge Amusement Park!”.

Bella climbed the motionless steps into darkness, toward a faint light high above, the only sounds her heightened pulse, the soft padding of her bare feet, and her slightly tight breathing, that became just a little laboured as she reached the top. She paused under the light, taking in the concourse now spread before her.

The ticket booths were shuttered, the windows and most of the doors boarded over, the newspaper stand empty barring a sole, creased and frayed paper, and only two other lights were working, leaving most of the space bathed in heavy shadows. Bella moved to look at the paper, but only read the headline – “BIZARRE TRAIN DISAPPEARANCE” – and the subheading – “INEXPLICABLE VANISHING OF FIFTEEN PASSENGERS BETWEEN UNDERGROUND STATIONS” – before having to turn away.

The lizard shook herself, lightly, then looked to the only two unbarred doors, across from the escalators. Their glass was embossed with the logo of the park, a vibrant glass mural filled the space between them, and a large mascot costume of the silver rat sat against the latter, paws in its lap, tail trailing out, head lolling to one side. It was filled out, as if someone was wearing it, but only emptiness showed through the tears across its chest.

Bella squared her shoulders, and stepped forward. Her heart leaped for her throat when the mascot's fingers twitched, then threatened to hammer clean out of it when its head straightened up and unblinking eyes fixed on her. It lurched to its feet, swayed unsteadily on the spot for a moment, then spread its arms and lumbered toward her.

Swallowing a scream and an urge to bolt back down the escalator, she dodged round it, avoiding its clumsily flailing paws. A sudden lunge by the mascot hit her off-balance; she pitched forward, tucked and rolled clumsily, then scrambled up, shoulder and hip aching, and tore for the doors. The mascot pivoted and followed.

The lizard slammed through one of the doors hard and fast enough to crack the glass, and tore down a broad flagstone path bordered by tall and ornate iron fences. The mascot shambled doggedly in pursuit, its paws still outstretched. Under an extravagant arch she shoved through a heavy gate left ajar, then crashed it back into place and threw a huge bolt home with a clang.

The mascot reached it a moment later, grasping the bars in its paws and staring through them at her. Gasping raggedly, body shaking, eyes wide in terrified disbelief, Bella backed off, then turned and ran. She collapsed onto a bench, holding her head in her paws, and didn't move again for several minutes.

Finally looking up, the lizard discovered she could see barely anything of the Silver Bridge Amusement Park, as only two lights, on either side of the entrance plaza, were working. What she could see was every bit as neglected and forgotten as the station, greenery starting to grow at the edges of dusty and fractured tiles.

Across the plaza from her stood a large, rambling building combining a stand selling tokens and wrist bands, a shop selling concessions and merchandise, and a security office. A light glowed around the edges of the latter's open door; after a long moment's vacillation, Bella started toward it, heart beginning to climb again.

She stopped right outside it, listening intently, but heard nothing. She took a breath, then pushed inside. The room was empty, a sparse little space containing a chair, a desk, a computer and a cabinet. The latter was open, and inside it she found a head torch with a rear, red light as well as quite powerful front ones, and a page from a diary.

> _At first, I didn't understand why no-one else liked the midnight shift. Yes, this place can be a little unnerving at night, mostly cause of the weird rides they keep buying, but it's wonderfully quiet, and beyond the odd bat or owl nothing ever stirs. Then came the night I found Silver sat on a bench near the haunted house when I know they were locked in the stores. I thought it was a prank but nobody ever owned up, and then it happened again. And again. And then the other one appeared._

A shiver ran down Bella's spine, right to the tip of her tail. Nervously, she cast about, but nothing stirred. Torch on her head, she approached the door, peering round it, and was more than a little relieved to find a plaza as empty as she'd left it. She still hastened along the front of the building to the shop, and made sure to close the door behind her.

Inside, she turned the torch on, sweeping it over empty shelving and tables, a bare counter, and a large cardboard standee of Silver the Rat that made her jump. Once she'd gotten her heart back under control it dawned on her the standee had a familiar piece of blue fabric draped around its neck. She hurried over, taking up the waistcoat and running it through her fingers, then pressing it to her face.

With a sigh Bella tucked it carefully into her bag, turned, and left. She switched off the torch to save battery, then gazed around the plaza for quite a while, trying to figure out where to go. The path past the gate was now dark, with no sign of the mascot, and the station just a faint silhouette. The paths to left and right disappeared into a darkness that somehow seemed deeper, almost impenetrable.

She did spot something to the right, though, just in front of the wall of black, something small and shining. She dashed over and swept it up; a second charm, a smiling red panda head, sat in her palm. She kissed it, softly, added it to the bag, then stared long and hard at the darkness now just feet away.

Turning on the torch, she was startled to see all the lights were now a soft orange, and when she aimed it at the shadows they fell back a few feet, the path opening up a little. The first thing revealed was a figure standing to the left side, a puma who looked to be cast from resin or plastic, their legs set wide, their arms spread. That they were wearing a real dress, and their wide smile seemed off in some indefinable way, only increased their unsettling presence.

Briefly wondering who'd have thought such a figure a good idea, Bella walked quickly past it. In just a few steps it had vanished back into the blackness that now encircled the lizard-girl. She moved cautiously on, past a tea cups ride and a vintage carousel with odd, faceless horses. A small drop tower inexplicably in the form of a cartoony guillotine with seats attached and a chair swing with chains so thin they looked ready to snap under the slightest weight deepened the off-kilter feeling.

Another path then branched off at a right-angle, just before wooden barriers with signs that read “UNDER CONSTRUCTION” and “COMING SOON” and “BUILDING FUTURE EXCITEMENT” bolted to them blocked the main one. Another resin figure stood at this junction, this one of a painted dog who struck a faint note of familiarity with her. Unable to work out why, and not wanting to linger, Bella took the new path.

To the right lay a small, figure of eight roller coaster, its train bearing a grotesque clown's face it was actually a little hard to look at, and to the left was a seating area around a fountain with a large central figure of a bare-breasted mermaid flashing jagged teeth and clutching a skull in her long, sharp claws.

The path turned to run parallel with the original, blocked one, and the darkness eased off, so she had a decent view ahead, aided by a line of lights along the roof edge of an arcade to the left. On the right stood a spinning ride, pairs of seats mounted on lengthy arms radiating from a central mechanism, on which rested a large statue of a fox cub dancing with ribbons, their fur painted; she stared at it for quite a while.

When her gaze returned to the path, her heart made another rush to her throat on seeing a figure right at the limit of her view, a silhouette of a hare with long ears and outsize paws and feet standing absolutely motionless. A sickly chill crawling up her back the lizard looked to the arcade, wondering if she could barricade herself inside it, and found a word etched in the grime of the nearest window.

> **SAFE**

Her eyes returned to the mascot, whose head was now lilted to one side, then the arcade, then the space where the mascot had been. She cast around a little wildly, panic beginning to bubble, but there was no trace of it. Tail lashing, she tore for the arcade, all but crashing through the mercifully unlocked doors.

Finding nothing she could brace against the doors, Bella stared at the still-vacant path for several tense moments, then turned to go deeper into the arcade. She wove through a dense maze of cabinets, most of them garish, one a matt black marked only by its name in stark capital letters, to a spot at the back, an open space under a quite bright light.

Another page of the diary rested on the floor, a sailing boat charm on top of it. Bella snatched them up, and clutched them to her as she sat cross-legged, head twitching with every sound, breathing still raggedly heightened. Only after several drawn-out minutes of nothing showing up did she begin to calm. She quickly read the diary page.

> _It's hunting me. I know it is. I see it every night, now, standing and watching, and every night it gets a little bit closer. I can't tell you how glad I am it won't come near the office. It avoids the arcade and the haunted house, as well, but I don't know why, just like I don't know where it came from. Neither does anyone else. I'm still finding Silver in strange places, too, and I swear I saw them walking about, once. And now, now, freaky statues of people are popping up, and no-one knows why, or if they do they aren't saying, and there are rumours this place is going under, and I don't know how much more I can take._

Bella added the page and the charm to her bag, then stared into the shadows of the arcade, trying to will herself to get moving again. Her hand sought out the waistcoat, squeezed it, stroked it, then with a long and slightly shaky exhale she got to her feet and made her way to the front of the arcade.

The path was still empty. The lizard pressed herself to the glass of the doors, looking as far as she could in either direction, and saw nothing but the suffocating darkness. Swallowing, she pulled the doors open, stepped outside, and looked again. Still nothing. With a sigh, and one more squeeze of the waistcoat, she started walking.

Once past the end of the arcade, the darkness thickened anew, more than before, pressing so close despite her torch Bella could barely see past the bounds of the path. She passed by several rides with no idea what they were, before the black finally eased back just as she passed under an upward curve of a much larger rollercoaster.

Burgundy track swept and dived and rolled on dark grey pillars round and through trees and bushes, and almost as high as them at a couple of points. The other side of it she spotted another light, shining faintly in the control cabin at one end of the coaster's open station, and at the same time heard clumsy footsteps approaching from behind.

She glanced round; Silver came lurching out of the darkness, its arms reaching for the lizard. Ahead, the gigantic main arm of a spinning ride lay broken across the path, an impassable barrier. The lizard fled along the only route she could take, the coaster's queue line, stumbling and slipping and clattering the barriers multiple times, her heart pounding against her ribs.

Bruised and near-frantic she tripped as she entered the station, falling hard against the bird-faced train sitting at the platform. Pushing off it, she flew to the control booth, shoved the door open, flung herself in, dropped to the floor with her back to the console, braced both her feet against the bottom of the door, and waited.

More than a minute later, Silver came into the station. It spotted her almost instantly, and shambled her way. Bella closed her eyes, twisted away, body tensing, teeth gritting over a sob, bracing herself. The rat's footsteps stopped right outside the booth, but there was no shattering of glass, no paws smothering her, just silence.

After some time, she risked cracking an eye open. Silver was standing outside, one paw on the door, the other pointing at something beside her. Confusion setting in deeply, she turned her head, to find a page of the diary resting on the operator's chair. Shakily, she picked it up.

> _The park's been closed just over a week, now. Only the bosses know why, and they're not telling anyone else. They won't tell us if or when it's opening again, either. Thankfully, keeping a watch at night isn't nearly so stressful, now, and I still struggle to believe the reason. Silver's protecting me. Watching me as I watch the park. All right, their methods are strange, but if it means that hare doesn't get me, I'll cope. Starting to think it's got something to do with the statues, though now the park's shut, no more have shown up. The station's closed, too, and a train's just...sitting there. Maybe I can figure out how to drive the thing, and use it to escape if worst comes to worst. I can't shake the feeling something's lurking in this park, something far worse than that hare, and it's only a matter of time before it gets stronger..._

Bella stared for half an age at the mascot, struggling to believe what she'd just read. It didn't make a lick of sense. But, the longer they just stood and watched, and waited, the more she started to think it might, just might, be true. Finally, partly because there was nothing else she could do, she stood and opened the door.

Almost immediately big, soft paws drew her against a form that was, somehow, warm and firm. Involuntarily, she sagged into the embrace, momentarily overwhelmed by the stress, the fear, the worry. Choked sobs escaped her fitfully trembling body as Silver simply held her, chin resting atop her head.

Finally, she quieted, and eased back, the mascot's paws falling to her hips, and closed her eyes as she worked to settle her breathing. Once open again, they rested on those of the rat, as she wondered what to do next. After a while, she decided to return to the path, see if it truly was blocked, or if there was a way past the fallen ride.

When Bella tried to move, though, Silver's grip tightened. She firmly freed herself, gave them a small, wan smile, and left the station. Pace steady, she walked back along the queue line, the mascot close behind, to the path, and the broken hulk of Mecha-Twister. It quickly became clear there was no getting beyond it, and she slumped.

Silver laid one paw on her shoulder, and pointed the other down the way she'd originally come, under the coaster. Her head canted as she tried to understand, then she remembered the bridge. She must have missed the turning to it in the deep darkness, Squaring her shoulders, she started to retrace her steps, under the coaster's track.

The mascot stayed right with her, and when they reached the pressing blackness, their paw came to rest on her upper back, and stayed there as they sought out the turning. Bella found it thanks to a glint of light, a fourth, book-shaped charm sitting right at the start of the branching path. Adding it to her bag, she took the turning.

To her relief, the darkness relented as they got to the main path, just the other side of the barriers. Straight ahead glimmered the lake, and across it stretched the shining Silver Bridge. A figure was visible at the apex of the bridge, under the sole working light, a slip of fabric draped over one small, round ear.

A sick feeling curdling her stomach, the lizard slowly approached the statue. Halfway to it, she knew for sure it was a mongoose. Reaching it, her body shaking anew, there was no question it was the mongoose she'd seen on the train. If Silver's paws hadn't caught her by the waist, she'd certainly have slumped to the floor.

The figures were people. Had been people. Shakily taking the black skirt from the mongoose's ear, she pressed it to her face and fought to bury the horrible, horrible thought that its owner was a statue as well, a vacant shell instead of a vibrant little girl. Then a surge of anger, of furious denial, saw her glaring determinedly ahead, paws fisting.

She tucked the skirt into her bag with the waistcoat, and marched the rest of the way across the bridge. The stifling darkness was noticeably absent on the far side, giving her a decent view of a small go-kart track and a sizeable halfpipe of wide coaster-style track with a disk of seats sitting in the middle of it.

Beyond those was a compact log flume with one drop, and after that, as the path curved round and in toward the back of the park, a gothic ramble of turrets, mullioned windows and grotesques. A period lamp glowed bright outside, and light shone through every crack and gap in the facade of the house.

Silver ushered her toward it, and she didn't resist at all. A fifth charm, a six-petalled flower, sat on the doorstep. Inside, the entrance hall was suffused with a warm light that seemed to have no source, and empty bar a small table with a fourth diary page lying on it, and a figure with coffee-coloured skin, chest-length black hair, and a bracelet that had a single charm, a heart, attached to it.

Bella crumpled, sobbing, chest heaving painfully, fingers scraping the wooden floor, head shaking violently. It felt like all the fight had been punched right out of her. She tried to resist when Silver caught one of her paws, but they wouldn't stop, and drew it toward the figure. Bella fought harder, but still her hand touched the statue's chest.

A pulse of tingling warmth rippled through her, and the resin beneath her fingers quickly shifted to something warmer, smoother, softer, and so much more alive. There came a series of gasps, high and light, and she finally looked up to see her paw now lay on the chest of a living, breathing girl with wonder in their eyes.

A beat of the heart later they were pinned in her arms as she sobbed anew, this time with a relief so intense it ached. They wept too, arms tight around her neck, scales and skin pressed so close they very nearly blended. Even when they drew apart, it was only enough to press lips in a fervent series of kisses, then the pair hugged anew.

Bella's eyes found Silver, and she could have sworn the corners of the mascot's mouth were curled up. Knowing there'd be no answers from the rat, the lizard-girl sat cross-legged with the child snugly in her lap, and took up the diary page.

> _I was wrong. There are two things in this park, not one. Last night Silver led me to the haunted house, and it was filled with light but I couldn't see a source. Something's in there, too, but it must have been lying dormant for years, only stirring when the other thing appeared. There was a statue in the entrance hall, and when Silver made me touch it, it came to life. Turns out, the hare had been transforming people into resin figures, somehow. I don't know why, I don't want to know why, I just know with the light of whatever is in the haunted house and a touch, they can be saved. I tried to get this one to safety, but the hare snatched them out of the thick, false darkness that's been growing in the park, and I've not seen them since. Then Silver disappeared, and the train was taken away, and I know I should resign my post, run far away and never look back, but I can't leave, not until the thing in the Dollhouse is gone._

Stroking the girl's stomach, bolstered greatly by their warm, tangible, real presence, Bella worked to settle herself, to regain at least a little of her equilibrium. She also worked to sort through everything that had happened, tried to make sense of it, but only partly succeeded. All the while, Silver watched over them.

Eventually, the lizard eased the child from her lap, stood, and moved to the door that led deeper inside the haunted house, but it wouldn't budge, no matter how hard she pushed or pulled; it might as well have been a wall. She stared intently at it for some seconds, then turned to crouch before the girl.

She took the charms from her bag and restrung them on the bracelet, then tried to give the child their skirt back, only for Silver's paw to stop her. Both of them stared, confused, at the rat, who simply pushed the hand holding the garment against the lizard's chest, and pointed to the bag, then the torch on her head, currently turned off.

Bella blinked, looked at the skirt, looked at its owner, then back at the skirt, and finally at the mascot, and nodded. She returned the fabric to her bag, then cradled the girl's face, and told her to stay put, where it was safe. They nodded, she kissed them on forehead and lips, hugged them long and tight, then reluctantly pulled away.

She and Silver stepped outside, she permitted herself one last look at the child before closing the door, then asked the rat to take her to the nearest statue. It proved to be less than a minute away, a brawny male tiger in green and gold shorts standing in the shadow of the log flume, just off its queue line.

The mascot indicated a close by lamp post. Bella laid her hand on it, and felt a familiar tingle; a second later, the lamp was casting a pool of pale orange light over them and the statue. The lizard placed her paw on the latter's chest, and the tiger quickly came back to life, stumbling, swaying on the spot, almost toppling over.

She and Silver steadied him, tried to calm his violent rush of fear and confusion and panic. He soon got some control of himself, but refused to help them, instead heading to the haunted house. Bella waited for him to go inside, then prompted the rat to lead her to another statue.

It took a little while to reach, and her torch began to fade, the battery clearly dying. A short, stocky female shrew in a pale blue, close-fitting halter top, they were hidden amongst trees, a good twenty feet from any light source. Silver picked them up and carried them to the closest lamp, by a toilet block, setting them down beneath it.

Bella brought the lamp to life, then the shrew, who gave a deep gasp, cast around rapidly, then clamped onto the lizard in a fierce hug. They didn't hesitate to agree to help. The rat and the lizard led her to a spot the haunted house was visible from, ensuring she knew where it was, then they split up to look for more statues.

Bella lingered, briefly, noticing the house's light had dimmed a little, then made her way at speed back to the bridge. The mongoose, once revived, was frightened, but determined, and also agreed to help. One by one, more people were brought back, until, when the lizard met up with the rat and the shrew and they finally returned to the house, they found a dozen living souls gathered, and more statues.

The building's light was brighter, again, Bella having doused all of the lamps she'd lit, and in its glow she restored all the remaining figures to life. Thirty scared and bewildered people now huddled in the hall and under the outside light, but there was no red panda among them, nor the writer of the diary pages.

Messy, tense discussions soon led to most of the group electing to go to the relative safety of the station and the train. The mongoose took charge of them, Bella turned a torch of theirs orange, the child joined them after quick kisses were shared with the lizard, then they began to leave, only to freeze after just a few steps.

The hare was standing in the distance, a just visible silhouette, right in the large group's way. Panic started to erupt, then Bella stepped up in front, tucked her now dead torch into her bag, stared long and hard at the other mascot, then turned and walked determinedly to where the darkness lay thickest of all.

Silver, the shrew, and a wiry teenage fox with a baseball cap and a bag on a band around their waist followed her. The hare watched on, head tilting, then took one step back and vanished. It needed a little effort by the mongoose, but the big group got moving again, and were soon out of sight. Bella focused firmly ahead.

She refrained from lighting any lamps until they reached the deepest darkness, now an almost physical barrier that actively resisted parting, and barely did so even with the glow of orange. Some way into it they found a collapsed concession stand, inside of which lay the fragmented remains of a statue, an otter in uniform jacket, and a diary page.

> _Silver's back. So's the train, and it brought more people. They were frightened and confused, and mostly didn't want to help deal with the thing in the Dollhouse. The two exceptions were a red panda, Gail, and her human daughter, Sarah, who were as brave as all the others put together. Braver than me, and they seemed to chime with the haunted house thing. They, I, and Silver went after the Dollhouse thing, and for a while, just a while, we thought we were winning. Then the hare showed up, and took Sarah, and Gail, and now it's after me. I'm hiding in a concession stand, waiting for it to get me, for the grin and the darkness and the end. This will be the last entry I write, so know three things. It can control things, like the ride it tried to kill me with. It must have come with the Dollhouse when that was brought from a defunct park last year, and seems to need it, so destroy the house, and the thing might die with it. And, Bella, Gail has a message for you._
> 
> “ _I believe in you, Silk.”_

The lizard's paw went to her muzzle, tears welling in her eyes. Then she crouched, brushed a finger over a fragment of the otter's temple, and bowed her head in silence for a minute. Straightening back up, a fierceness to her stare now, she lit all the lamps around the courtyard the concession stand, one of three, bordered one side of.

Over on the right side stood a ride that spun seats mounted to planes around fifteen feet off the ground. One was missing, the arm it used to be attached to torn and twisted. Bella found it behind the stand, an upended, crumpled wreck. A ferris wheel towered easily three times as high as the trees on the far side of the courtyard, a stark silhouette against the sky, and to the left was the Dollhouse.

Originally, it would have been a bright and cheerful exaggeration of a house, but now it was smothered in swirling darkness, its walls flexing and pulsing and creaking, faceless, naked mannequins staring from its windows, _something_ hissing and rasping in its depths. Outside, half a dozen more mannequins stood, and right in the middle, a red panda.

Bella wanted to run to them, but her feet were rooted to the spot. A burst of blackness shot across the courtyard to hit the plane ride, and it began to revolve, arms lifting up, rapidly gaining speed. Jolting out of her freeze, the lizard tore across the courtyard, the shrew and the fox with her, but before they could reach the red panda one of the planes snapped off and hurtled right at them.

They dived out of its way, and stared in horror as it ploughed through the mannequins on one end, barely missed the Dollhouse, smashed a lamp post in half, then crashed out of sight. Another was flung toward Silver as they hurried to protect the others, missing them by a whisker and demolishing a concession stand, shrapnel spraying wide.

A third shot over the fox as he sprawled flat, and crunched into one of the ferris wheel's supports, buckling it; the wheel creaked and groaned and shuddered. Between them Silver and the shrew picked up the red panda and ran, while Bella stood in front of the Dollhouse and goaded the thing inside it until it hurled a fourth plane at her. She flung herself out of the way, and watched with grim satisfaction as it hammered into the front of the building.

The house seemed to howl as its walls shattered, the darkness flaring and writhing. It slumped and leaned, but didn't fall. A lump of its roof fell and crushed a second lamp, and the group, the fox back with them, were plunged into utter blackness. Shouts, screams and footfalls, then Bella stumbled alone into the only patch of light left.

And found herself nose to nose with the giant, wildly staring eyes and long, twisted grin of the hare. It grabbed her, and its torso opened up, and darkness beckoned her in. She fought, scrabbling and pushing and flailing desperately, but the pull of the shadows and the strength of the hare's arms was inexorable.

Then the shrew and the fox ploughed into the hare, knocking it aside, and Bella was scrambling around, gasping, searching frantically for the red panda. A final plane whipped for the scramble of hare, shrew and fox; the latter two just ducked out of the way, but it hit the mascot and slammed them into the final concession stand.

Bella's mad hunt was stopped by Silver, whose own torso opened up as he snagged her, and this time she hadn't the energy to resist. They engulfed her, flowed over her, until she was suspended inside them, a living sleeve hugging every inch of her, holding her still. She could see out of their eyes, and they were looking at the ferris wheel falling.

Silver turned and fled. Bella could hear the shrew and fox running as well, keeping pace, and the roar of the darkness chasing them, and the deeper roar and metallic scream of the collapsing wheel. The boom as it hit the ground was deafening, and the shock wave almost sent them sprawling, but the roar didn't stop.

Silver glanced round, and Bella got a glimpse of a titanic wall of black rumbling after them, razing everything it touched. The haunted house was rent to splinters, and the light flashed out, and she sobbed. Then she sagged, eyes closing, and the running and the roaring and the hard pants of the fox and the shrew and the horrible, hoarse howl that rose above it all blended and blurred together.

The lizard vaguely registered the original plaza, and the large building being decimated in one last screaming explosion of darkness, then the station was around her, and lights were glowing, and with a rush and a final keen everything fell silent.

Silver opened up, and Bella slumped out onto the floor, shaking with sobs, and curling into herself. She ignored the people gathering round, and the concerned voices, and the sound of something solid being set down, and didn't resist at all as her paw was picked up by Silver's, and laid on resin. Then the tingle came, and the resin turned to fur.

Bella looked up. A warm orange-red figure came into view as a hand caressed her face. The look in their brimming eyes was enough to see her weeping anew, in disbelieving elation. Gail drew her close, stroked her scales, whispered love in her ear, and they kissed, long, deep and slow. Then Sarah joined their huddle, and the family was complete.

Looking around, she saw everyone safely gathered, the shrew and the fox kneeling close by. They told her they'd carried Gail all the way out of the park, and all three thanked them profusely. Gazing outside, she took in, under the moonlight, the blasted, lifeless wasteland that once had been the Silver Bridge Amusement Park.

She gave Gail their waistcoat, and Sarah their skirt, then they rose and led the group down the escalators to where the train waited, its doors open. Silver, looking slightly ragged, one of their ears singed, climbed into the cab, while everyone else filed into the body of the coach. The family sat together, still holding each other.

The carriage was dark as they travelled, but a real darkness, a quietly comforting darkness, tinged with murmured conversation and the soft click and rattle of wheels on track. The journey seemed to rush by, and it felt like no time before they were drawing up at Bella's home station, the doors opening in front of an astonished night guard.

After disembarking, the lizard moved to the cab, and saw the empty, silent costume now draped on the seat. She opened the door, reached in to stroke the furry fabric, than gathered it up. She carried it with her as the group were escorted from the station, and it felt very much like she was waking from a bad dream.

\- - - - -

When they finally got home, the first pale stirrings of dawn were just visible. Bella laid Silver on one of the living room chairs, then she and Gail and Sarah headed to their bedroom to curl up in a blissful snuggle of fur, and skin, and scales, and not stir again for a very long time.

If Bella had looked behind her as she closed the door, she'd have seen Silver's eyes shining softly, and a real smile curling their lips.

She also might have seen, through her window, standing on the roof of a building opposite, head tilted, the silhouetted figure of a hare...


End file.
